Our Best Of 2014 extravaganza ain’t quite over yet. Here’s a list of 20 excellent records that were reissued on vinyl this year. (Out of stock? Add the item to your wishlist and we’ll notify you when we have it in.)

Erykah Badu - Mama’s Gun

Erykah Badu’s second album is a neo-soul touchstone that represents her transition from her earlier work to her wilder 2000’s output. Features the hit “Bag Lady.”

The Beatles – The White Album

The mother of all rock bands/albums. The Beatles’ albums (all of which are pretty much essential) were reissued on vinyl this year. You gotta own this one on mono vinyl, the way it’s meant to be heard.

Belle & Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister

I wrote an essay about how important this album was for me; read it here. Also check out the twee band’s reissues of The Boy With the Arab Strap, Push Barman to Open Old Wounds, The Third Eye Centre, Tigermilk, Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant, The Life Pursuit, The BBC Sessions, Write About Love and Dear Catastrophe Waitress.   

The Smashing Pumpkins are performing in Hollywood on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Wednesday, December 10 and we want to give you free tickets! Purchase the new Pumpkins album, Monuments to an Elegy, in-store at Amoeba Hollywood starting Tuesday, December 9th and get a free wristband to see them live on the Kimmel outdoor stage the next day.

Quantities are limited. Limit one ticket per CD or LP purchased, limit 2 per person. You must be 16+ years old with a valid ID to attend the show and must arrive by 5:15pm.

We’re starting a new series where we talk about records that personally made a difference in our lives. Today we’ll talk about Smashing Pumpkins' cult favorite fourth album, Adore, which was just re-released on a seven-disc Deluxe Edition CD set and will be re-released on vinyl Oct. 7 (pre-order here).

When Smashing Pumpkins released their fourth album, Adore, I was about to turn 16. It was the summer of 1998 and I was all set to start band camp, complete with bleach-blonde hair and an injured toe. 

I was obsessed with the Smashing Pumpkins at that point. It may be hard to recall now, but the band occupied a unique space on the radio in those days. There weren’t any other bands on their scale releasing the kind of detailed and emotional but far-reaching rock ‘n’ roll that they were, so waking up to the roughed up chords and digital beat of “Ava Adore” on your radio alarm meant something. (The only other popular album you could compare it to at the time was Radiohead's OK Computer, which was released a year prior.) 

When Smashing Pumpkins released their beloved-in-retrospect fourth album, Adore, back in 1998, frontman Billy Corgan couldn’t resist talking a lot about a great song he left off the album called “Let Me Give the World to You.” Perhaps to preserve the nocturnal feel of the classic 4AD indebted Adore, the song wasn’t included on the album—the title alone promised a bombastic rock single in the vein of songs like “Tonight, Tonight.” But we got another version of the song later, on the digital-only Machina II, albeit in a different version that sounded quickly recorded in the best way, with gauzy, Cocteau Twins-inspired guitars and jangly pop feel.

Now Corgan has released the original recording, produced by none other than hip-hop producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin. So it’s that over-the-top “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” thing, right? The song is closer in feel to “1979,” with muted new-wave guitars and a level of restraint not typically seen with this band, yet its Beatles-inspired arrangement is, of course, heartfelt and grabbing. Though Adore is lovably imperfect as is, I can’t help but feel this recording would’ve slotted in nicely near the end of the album and perhaps provided a crucial breakthrough third single that could’ve changed the troubled history of the band for the better. Sigh.

Two of our favorite bands of all time — OutKast and Slowdive — are officially reuniting. OutKast announced it a couple weeks back, with news that the Southern rap legends will headline Coachella and play Governernor’s Ball in New York, though it seems likely we’ll see another Big Boi album before a new OutKast album (and we’re OK with that!). Meanwhile, shoegaze titans Slowdive yesterday confirmed rumors (that they themselves flamed) that they’d reunite, playing Primavera in Barcelona in May and “a couple of gigs,” including a show at Village Underground in London May 19 (better book your tickets now!), in order to raise funds for a new LP.

With those two reunions locked down, we thought we’d turn our attention from bands we liked that reunited to bands we’d like to see reunite.

Talking Heads

This one seems a no-brainer. They exactly been quiet since they first broke up in 1991, from briefly “reuniting” onstage in 2002 to play three songs for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, to David Byrne’s solo career (including a one-off album with St. Vincent), to the other members’ activity, including The Heads and Tom Tom Club. And the band seems more popular and prescient than ever. So, everyone’s still alive and working.